How to Build a Flag Preservation Frame

Learn how to build a flag display case; details include building a stretcher frame and case along with tips, materials and tool lists.

Doug Mcilwraith and Heidi Neumann live on a tree-lined street in the San Francisco suburb of Mountain View. When their home was built in 1906, it stood alone as a rural farmhouse. When Doug came upon an 45-star antique version of Old Glory that was in use the year his house was built, he just had to have it to display in his home. The couple was unsure how to safely protect and display the fragile piece of fabric, so they asked Ron to help. Click Here For a list of what you will need in order to complete this project. View the complete video of this project

1. Design The display case is designed in two parts. First, a stretcher frame similar to an artist's canvas is covered with three layers of material onto which the flag will be attached. A shallow display case will hold the stretcher inside and a sheet of clear acrylic plastic will protect the flag. 2. Determine location If the fabric is fragile, it is important to handle it only when absolutely necessary. It is helpful however, to view the flag in more than one location before deciding where it should hang. If the fabric will tolerate it, very carefully hold it up in the location you have selected, to see how it looks. 3. Cut wood Cut five strips of 1 X 3 poplar for the stretcher frame. The top and bottom must be exactly the same length, while the two sides and the cross brace must also be the identical length. The best way to ensure that the matching pieces are exactly the same length is to measure the first board, square up the ends, clamp the boards together, and then cut them at the same time.

4. Lap joint The pieces of the stretcher frame are held together with lap joints. To create this type of joint, cut half the thickness away from each of the two pieces of wood so that the two cut pieces interlock as shown.

Use a router to remove the wood for the lap joint. To get an accurate cut, create a holding jig out of additional pieces of 1 X 3 poplar. Slide two pieces of lumber into the jig side by side and place a shim between the two pieces of wood to wedge them tightly in place. Fit the router with a ¾" straight bit and then set it at the correct depth to cut exactly halfway through the wood.

Place the base of the router up against the temporary fence that is part of the holding jig. Make the first cut using this fence as a guide. Move the router back and forth and carefully remove the remaining wood, then flip the two boards around and do the same thing on the opposite ends.

5. Assembly The lap joints are held together with wood glue. Pour glue in a container (the bottom of a cut off water bottle is a convenient choice) and brush it onto both pieces of wood. Be sure to cover the sides of the joints as well as the bottom. As the glue dries, the bond will become stronger than the wood itself.

6. Mount layers on stretcher frame Once the sides and cross bar have been glued together, apply glue to the face of the stretcher frame. The first layer of the frame is acid free foam core, which is cut to size and glued to the face of the stretcher frame. Acid free materials help protect the flag from further deterioration. Be certain to use rust proof staples to hold the foam core firmly to the stretcher frame while the glue dries.

The second layer of the stretcher frame is polyester felt. This provides a cushion behind the flag as well as more fabric for the thread to grab if you ever decided to sew the flag onto the frame, which is how conservators often do it. Again, using rustproof staples, attach the felt on one side, stretch it tautly across the frame, and staple the remaining sides. Use scissors to cut off the excess.

Finally, add a third layer of cotton muslin, and staple this to the frame and trim the excess as with the felt.

7. Mount the flag Carefully spread the flag out onto the frame surface and very gently smooth out the wrinkles. Attach the flag to the frame with tiny, ball-headed pins made of stainless steel so that they won't rust. In order to ensure that the pins are spaced evenly along the edge, create a gauge, which can be just a strip of wood with marks every three inches.

Note: It is important to point out that there are a number of ways to mount a flag like this. A museum conservator would be likely to sew the flag into place using a far more painstaking approach. The method described here, however, will display and protect the flag for many years to come but will also take a more reasonable amount of time and at an affordable cost.

8. Display case The display case is made from oak. The first step is to cut two grooves or dados in the oak strips that will become the inside of the case.

One of these grooves will hold the ¼" plywood for the back and the other will hold the acrylic plastic for the front of the case. Outfit a table saw with a ¼" dado blade, which is actually two blades sandwiched together to provide a ¼" groove. Cover the opening on the table saw with a customized throat plate made from a piece of wood so that the oak will slide along a flush surface with only the dado blade protruding.

Clamp a feather accessory to the saw fence to hold the board down in contact with the table as it passes through so that the groove remains a consistent depth.

In order to join the corners of the flag case together, cut miters on the end of each piece. Draw a cut line on each frame section and set the miter saw blade to forty-five degrees.

9. Assembly Run a bead of glue into the bottom dado. Using a brush, try to get the adhesive up on the sides of the groove as well as in the bottom. Slip the frame section over the edge of the plywood back, making sure that it is flush at both ends. Glue the sheet of ¼" plywood into the dados on the bottom and sides of the frame as the sides are assembled. Apply glue to the miter joints and set the sides into place.